This Filipino American Life This Filipino American Life

Ay SAUCE-MARYOSEP!.  Have you ever thought of what kind of Filipino sauces and condiments are in your kitchen?  Patis, toyo, suka, bagoong, banana ketchup, sinigang packets, etc. These are essential ingredients to all of our wonderful Filipino dishes. OK, so have you also thought of what kind of preservatives and colorings are in them?  Sorbic...

Who taught you about SEX? Was it through school? Was it through watching porn? Whatever means you learned (or are learning) about the various aspects of sex, we could bet it wasn’t through your parents! With the Catholic Church shaping our Filipino way our being, sex education has been reduced to abstinence and “family life.”...

TFAL goes to Hawaii! Well, actually just Joe goes to Hawaii.  While attending a conference in Honolulu, Joe took the opportunity to do an additional interview with local Filipino American leader, Chachie Abara. Chachie is an Ilocano language and mental health advocate, runs the podcast and media company KasamahanCo, and is author of a bilingual...

On August 8, 2023, Maui experienced the largest wildfire in the “United States” in more than 100 years, killing 101 people and displacing 6,500. National media portrayed the disaster as an unfortunate incident to Maui’s idyllic setting for tourism. However, hidden from this mainstream narrative is the larger context of how the wildfires and its...

“Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. I am a BAD Filipino!” What makes you a “bad” Filipino?  It’s time to confess!!  In this TFAL episode, the crew discusses what makes us “bad” Filipinos…or rather Filipinos who buck the proverbial trend.  Which one of us doesn’t like Jollibee?  Who doesn’t mano po?  Who doesn’t ever...

In this episode the TFAL crew talk with Bayani Teodosio about Bayani Komixtape, the hip hop mixtape follow up to The Realest Bayani, Teodosio’s graphic novel. The crew shares their experience with comic books, pop culture, and learn about Bayani’s origin story that paved the way for the creation of The Realest Bayani. Looking for...